Shards of Time
by nothing but blue
Summary: Just a collection of NejiTen drabbles or oneshots. Chapter 8 is up! “I’m sorry, Neji,” and he truly was, “but as the future clan head, you will have to make sacrifices…”
1. White out

**A/N:** Okay, I'm depressed because I was supposed to post this up for the nejiten community, but I didn't know how. (I'm so stupid) And today's the final day to submit, and now I can't, so I figured I might as well post these up somewhere. I hope you guys enjoy it! Sorry if it's kind of angsty. The themes are in bold, and it's a story, but sort of like split up into three parts.

**White out**

She had thought that death would be black. Actually, she had thought that death would be a lot of things. She thought that it would be dramatic, peaceful, maybe even (if she was lucky) glorious.

She had been wrong. Death wasn't black, it was white. White like Neji's eyes. And it wasn't dramatic or glorious, and most certainly not peaceful. It was numb and empty and painstakingly slow. Full of regrets.

Now that she was dying, all she could think about were the things she wished she could have done. She wished she could have finished the new katana she was going to give Neji. And she wished she could have said good bye to all her friends, and her father. Her father, who she knew would cry and cry over her death, just as he had cried for her mother a year ago.

But most of all, she wished she could see Neji's eyes.

Death was coming now. And for the first time since she had been stabbed in the stomach, she could feel it, slow and creeping, like an pale, sickly arm reaching for her, slowly…slowly.

She looked up at the sky, her eyes as heavy as lead. And the sky was white, everything was white. Her thoughts were broken and confused, and she couldn't remember if it was night or day; and she couldn't remember what his eyes looked like.

And she was scared, oh god, she was so _scared_. She was dying and she couldn't remember what Hyuuga Neji's eyes looked like. She needed to see him, she needed to see Hyuuga Neji, but she couldn't see anything past the white void she was trapped in. She moved, a last desperate attempt to break free.

And then there was pain. White hot pain, and she gasped, struggling for air, struggling for _life _because she _needed_ to see him, if only one last time.

_Neji…_

She must have imagined Neji's face looming over her, his eyes just as beautiful and perfect as they always had been, just before the white overcame her.

**It's been five days**

The mission had gone wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. It was just supposed to be a simple delivery mission. But they had ran into a group of travelers (he had seen them with his Byakugan, but had not deemed them a threat; oh how he regretted it now). It turned out that the 'travelers' were actually disguised enemy nin.

It was a dirty trick, but it had worked. He, Lee, and Tenten had been completely surprised and outnumbered by the five exceptional ninja. Two had went after Lee, two after Tenten, and their leader had fought him. He had been so preoccupied with fighting the enemy nin that he had taken his eyes off of Tenten. And now…

Neji let out a frustrated growl, his fists clenching around the white sheets of the hospital bed. Now Tenten was lying unconscious in a bed with a torn up stomach and a punctured lung.

It had been five days. _Five_ days. And the doctors said that if she didn't wake up soon, they couldn't guarantee that she would wake up at all…

His knuckles were as white as the sheets now, but he didn't care. He didn't care about anything. Not now that Tenten was…dying.

He rested his head on the side of the bed, one of his calloused hands reaching to cover Tenten's small one. He felt so exhausted. He had barely slept since he had found Tenten five days ago, gasping and wide-eyed, as if she was seeing things that weren't there. Immediately after he arrived, she had calmed down, her eyes closing and her breathing becoming quiet once more. So quiet that he had been scared that she had…died. He and Lee had rushed her over to the hospital, for the first time abandoning a mission, and she hadn't woken up since. Her father had stayed almost as long as he had, but was forced to go back to work a couple days ago. And Lee visited often.

Still, Tenten wouldn't wake up. And after five, long days of waiting and worrying and thinking, he had finally realized something. Something that he had always known.

He needed Tenten. He needed her to be there beside him, to tell him that everything was going to be okay. He needed her to smile at him. Oh god, he needed her so much that he felt like he was dying without her.

And, possibly—maybe he…loved her.

_Tenten…come back to me. Please. I…I need you._

**Sincerely Yours**

The first thing she felt when she woke up was Neji's hand. She didn't quite know how she knew it was his hand, she just did.

The first thing she saw was white, and for a split second, she thought she was dead and that maybe, the hand holding hers wasn't Neji's and it was someone else, a ghost or a corpse.

The thought caused her to jerk, and the sudden motion caused her a dizzying amount of pain. She couldn't help but let out a strangled noise halfway between a yelp and a scream.

"Tenten…" Suddenly, Neji was looking at her, and everything within her seemed to settle back into place simply from seeing him again.

She smiled as much as her stiff lips would let her. "Hey Neji," she croaked out, her voice sounding foreign to even her own ears. Still, her actions seemed to relieve him, and he visibly relaxed, only to tense up a moment later as he seemed to realize something.

"You shouldn't speak," he said hurriedly. "Your lung is punctured, and your stomach is severely wounded. I should go get the—"

"I'm fine," she said softly, smiling her brightest smile at him. "Really, Neji, I'm fine," she repeated when he gave her a doubtful look.

He sat back down without a word, and looked at her with those eyes of his. And suddenly, she felt like crying just out of the sheer beauty of it all. She was alive, and he was with her again, and right now, it just seemed too wonderful to be true.

But she didn't cry. She just sat there and followed his gaze out the window, soaking in the sunlight and the air, and Neji, and the wonderful feeling of being _alive._

"Neji…I feel like I've been sleeping…for a long time."

"You have," he replied, his voice seeming to carry a burden that she couldn't begin to understand. "It's been five days." He looked at her, his eyes holding a deathly serious look that she had rarely ever seen on him. "Don't do it again. You…aren't allowed to die."

She smiled, catching the meaning behind his words, and in a spur of the moment, she placed her both her hands on his.

"Don't worry, Neji. I'll always be yours. Wholly, completely yours."

**A/N: **Well, please review and tell me if you liked it! Thanks for reading!


	2. Gravity

**Gravity**

"Mommy, what does gravity mean?"

Tenten paused in the task of tucking in her son for bed. "Why would you ask that, honey?"

"Ino-sensei was talking about throwing shiruken in class, and Tsuta asked why the shiruken couldn't just go on flying forever and ever and Ino-sensei told us that it was because of gravity," he explained impatiently. "Now what's gravity, mommy?"

She smiled at the way her son was looking at her, a mixture of innocence and curiosity blended into his white eyes that she had never seen in Neji's. "Gravity is the thing that makes everything fall down, Akito. You see, gravity draws things towards it, and everything else can't help but obey." She had been about to launch into a deeper explanation when she was interrupted by her son.

"Are you and daddy like gravity then?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

Tenten let out a small laugh and ruffled his already messy hair. "What makes you say that, huh?"

"Well, you and daddy are always together, so does that mean that you guys _have_ to always be together? Like gravity?" Akito was staring behind her now, towards the open doorway, and she didn't have to turn around to know what he was looking at. The little boy smiled and gave a wave.

"Sorry, Akito, but me and your dad are nothing like gravity." She smiled and spoke louder, hoping the man behind her would hear it. "I don't need to be near him, and I can survive just fine without him."

He turned to look back at her. "Oh," he said, sounding disappointed that he hadn't gotten the definition right. Suddenly, a big yawn erupted from his mouth, and the curiosity in his eyes was replaced by sleepiness. "I'm tired, mommy. Good night." He rolled over and pulled the blankets tighter around him.

"Good night, sweetie," she said, kissing his head gently.

The moment she closed the door to Akito's room, a pair of strong hands grabbed her and pushed her against the wall in a gentle, but firm motion. "You think you can survive without me, huh?" Neji said huskily, nipping at the hollows of her neck.

She arched underneath him, and bit back a groan of pleasure. "Neji! S-stop that!" With what little will-power she had left, she shoved him away bodily. Only to have him grab her wrists and give her a hard, heated kiss on the lips. All thoughts of resistance seemed to melt away along with just about everything else until her world only consisted of him and the silky feel of his hair under her fingers.

He pulled away suddenly, leaving her gasping for more.

"You still think you can live without me?" he asked, a cocky smirk on his face.

**A/N**: I hope everyone liked it! Please leave a review. It would make my day!


	3. We might as well be strangers

**A/N: **First of all, I'd like to thank all of you reviewers for the awesome comments you left me. You guys are all so nice, and it's really encouraging. Thank you so much:D Well, onto the drabble. This one's a little different than my usual style. It's in first person, and mostly in present tense (at least it should be…) Please tell me what you think of it.

**We might as well be strangers **

Neji and I have always been…friends. We helped each other out, we trained together, and we were comfortable around each other. Yes, we were friends.

But I must admit, running into him in the middle of a market after not seeing him for five years is rather awkward. I have never been this uncomfortable around Neji before, and it feels strange talking to him now, and I feel as if I have no right. Does this mean that we're not friends anymore?

"Neji, it's nice to see you." My voice sounded much calmer and relaxed than I felt, and I put on what I hoped looked like a sincere smile for him. Time to put my great acting skills to work.

"Tenten…" His voice sounds so much different, and the way he says my name seems foreign on his lips now, but I try to ignore it. He looks surprised to see me. And I don't blame him. I would be surprised to see me too. Five years away, and suddenly he runs into me at the _market_ of all places.

I shifted a little and kept on smiling, hoping he couldn't see through it, hoping he couldn't see through _me._ In the back of my mind, I noticed other people (namely, other _women_) giving me dirty looks from across the way. But I put up with it. This would be the last time I would have to put up with all of Neji's fangirls. I want to speak to him this one last time. I want to remember how his face looks, and the exact shade of his eyes, and the way he talks and holds himself. I want to remember him so clearly that I won't need him for the rest of my life. And then I'll move away again, except this time for real, and not just for a long-term mission. Perhaps, Konoha was not for me after all. Perhaps it never had been.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, awkwardly switching what I could only assume were grocery bags from his left hand to his right.

"Oh, I came back a couple weeks ago. You know, I've just been trying to live under the radar. It's been busy the last five years."

"You didn't call to tell me you were back." It sounded like an accusation, the way he was saying it. But maybe it wasn't…I don't know anything anymore.

"Well, I just—didn't think it was a big deal." I silently cursed myself for stumbling over the words. Come on, Tenten, play it cool. You are calm and sophisticated, and you _do not _like and possibly love this man standing in front of you.

"Did you tell Lee?" An odd rush of familiarity hit me, and it was comforting to know that he was still as blunt and to the point as ever. It gave me an strange sense of comfort, knowing that at least this fact about him was the same.

"Yeah, I told him. I figured you would be too busy if I call anyway." Remember, Tenten, just keep on smiling.

"Hn. Lee should have told me. That idiot." I heard him mumble the insult under his breath. I shifted a little, my heart pounding just a little faster.

"Yeah," I agreed, but my heart is still thumping loudly in my chest. I'd like to say I'm a good liar, but something about lying to Neji just scares the heck out of me.

I had told (practically begged) Lee not to tell Neji about my being here. After coming back and finding out that Neji was engaged, I just couldn't…I didn't think that I would be able to look at him without crying like the pathetic girl I am.

But look at me now, I'm standing in front of him and I'm smiling and keeping up a decent conversation aren't I? It's strange that I can do it. I feel like something inside my chest is going to burst open anytime soon, and I could still smile. It's all my fault anyway. I was so stupid. I was the one who left _him,_ it was only natural that he would leave me behind.

Back then, I had thought it would be best to get away from Konoha. Or to get away from Neji. I don't remember which one it was anymore. All I remember is that I was sixteen and I was young, and I was feeling things for my teammate that I shouldn't have been feeling. It terrified me.

It's all a big mess now. For me, that is. The man I love is engaged to someone else because I was too stupid and afraid to go after him myself. And I saw his fiancée; she looks like an angel, with dark blonde hair and beautiful crystal blue eyes, and she's graceful and feminine and lovely. Everything that I'm not. Neji…he must be so happy with her.

Something inside of me finally breaks, and before I can stop it, a tear slides down my cheek.

_We might as well be strangers. _

**A/N:** Hope you liked it! Sorry if it was weird or stupid or anything like that. Please leave a review and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading!


	4. Listen

**A/N: **Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been updating. This one's short, but I think it's one of my favorites. I hope you like it! Please review!

**Listen**

There is a difference between hearing and listening. Tenten knows this, and she thinks she's mastered both.

For example, many people hear Hyuuga Neji. They couldn't help it. He has a deep, solemn kind of voice that simply _demands_ to be noticed and recognized. Not to mention that he's _the_ Hyuuga Neji, top-ranked ANBU and branch house prodigy of the whole Hyuuga clan.

Tenten hears him too, but thinks that she is one of the only people in all of Konoha who can actually _listen_ to him. Neji uses few words, but that doesn't mean that he has nothing to say. Tenten had known this from the very beginning, and she had always listened.

They were 22 years old now, and they still trained together, and still went on missions together, and Neji still said things without actually _saying_ them, and Tenten still listened without actually having to hear him.

And even as they lay there on the ground, both covered in dirt and grass and sunlight, she still listened as he said softly, slowly. "I'm glad you're here, with me." His hand curled around hers ever so slightly,

She knew that he meant 'I love you.' All she had to do was listen to hear it.


	5. Razorblade Kiss

**A/N:** Hey everyone! Sorry for the late update. Things have been busy with my birthday and Thanksgiving and all of that. By the way, Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone:D Well, personally, I didn't like these two drabbles much. But I did my best, and any constructive criticism would be very helpful!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**Mine**

The minute they walked into the bar, all heads turned in their direction. A pair of Konoha ninjas in one of Suna's most infamous bars was quite a rare sight, after all.

It was warm, and everything was hazy and smelled of smoke and alcohol. Tenten tried to ignore the looks the men in the room were giving her, and instead concentrated on Neji's strong, warm presence by her side.

It was actually Tenten's idea to go to Suna's most popular bar. They had just completed a rather difficult mission, and her nerves were still on end. A drink or two usually helped her to calm down and relax. Neji usually would have protested, but he seemed rather bothered as well and gave in faster than usual.

She had just ordered a drink when she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"Hey babe," a distinctively male voice whispered into her ear. She tried not to cringe at the overpowering scent of alcohol in his breath. "Let's ditch this place and have some _real_ fun." His hand slid from her shoulder and down her arm.

She stiffened, gritting her teeth at the way that he _dared_ to touch her, one of Konoha's top kunoichi. If she and Neji caused any trouble here in Suna, it could mean trouble for them back home, but she swore if he touched her one more time she would hit him so hard that—

"I suggest you remove your hands from her this instant." For one terrifying moment, it seemed as if the world had frozen over at the coldness in Neji's voice.

She could feel the man's arm slowly leave her, and she almost sighed with relief. If the man had refused then she was sure Neji would have beaten him right then and there, judging from the look in his eyes.

Tenten turned around to look at the man, only to find him glaring at Neji with a fiery kind of anger that drunk men were known to possess. _Oh no,_ she thought, cringing. "And what makes you think _you_ can have her, white-eyes?" he snarled, his fist shooting up towards Neji's face at an alarming rate.

Within seconds, the man was on the floor, holding a bleeding and possibly broken nose, and Neji was standing above him with a quiet sort of rage burning in his eyes that Tenten had never quite seen before.

"She's mine," he said in a low, dangerous voice that Tenten could just barely hear. And then she was practically being shoved out of the bar by Neji's firm hand on her back.

She didn't know whether to feel flattered or angry. So she went with the angry approach.

**Razorblade Kiss**

"What in the world do you think you're doing, Hyuuga Neji?!" Tenten yelled at her teammate. She tried to struggle against his firm grasp on her arms as he pushed her forward, but he was much stronger than her physically, and she didn't really want to hurt him.

"What does it look like?" he replied, "I'm getting you out of that good-for-nothing bar." His voice sounded normal again, and Tenten felt something in her chest ease up a bit. There was always something about Neji losing his temper that made her very nervous, although she'd never admit it.

"Hey! Let go!" His grip immediately loosened up, and she took the opportunity to turn around and face him. She paused for awhile as she caught sight of him. He looked…different, standing there in the moonlight dressed in normal clothes and without the regular ANBU mask or hood to hide his sharp, angular features of his face…

And then she remembered that she was mad at him. "And what was with _that_ back there?" she pointed in the general direction of the bar. "You're not supposed to beat up civilians. We could get in serious trouble back in Konoha. Plus, I could have handled that jackass by myself!"

"I know—"

"And I am not 'yours,' as you so put it. I am kunoichi, just in case you forgot. And you see this," she held out a kunai in front of his face, and he could still see streaks of blood on it. "I _kill_ people with this, and I am _not_ some kind of—plaything for you idiotic men." They both tried to ignore the way her voice and hands were shaking.

"Tenten—"

"Don't you dare try and 'Tenten' me. I won't—" His fist slammed into the wall behind her, and her eyes widened. For a moment, there was silence, and she was aware of how cold the wind was as it blew up against her face, ruffled her hair, and helped dry the tears welling in her eyes. "Neji…" she breathed out, and she felt as if he had punched her instead of the wall.

"Listen to me, Tenten." He was breathing hard, and there was a strain, a sort of desperation in his voice that she had never heard before. "I have _never_ thought of you as an object or anything like that. Don't take it the wrong way. It's just that…you're leaving me. You…can't leave me."

She heard something dripping, and knew it was his blood. He was so close to her now that she felt as if she was drowning in his presence. The way he was looking at her…she needed to get away from him. Now. Right now, before she lost everything that made her who she was. Her grip tightened on the kunai in her hand.

"Don't leave." He moved closer to her, his hand coming up to rest on her arm, as if it were a sacred thing. "Tenten, don't leave."

"Oh god, you must be drunk," she whispered, but still, she did not move.

"I'm not drunk." She suppressed a shiver at the way his breath fanned against her ear. "I…won't lose you."

"What's wrong with you, Neji?" She was too afraid to move now. Because if there was anything in the world that scared her, it was hurting Hyuuga Neji. "What makes you think that you're going to lose me?"

"Let's quit ANBU, Tenten. It's too much. For both of us." He pulled away from her to look her in the eye. She quickly turned away from his gaze.

"I won't, Neji. How can you ask me to do that?"

"You don't have to be in ANBU to be great, Tenten. You can be a strong kunoichi without it. Let's just quit." He shook her shoulders a little in a failed attempt to get her to look at him.

"I can't." She shook her head, and held onto the kunai all the tighter. "It's my job—"

"You're not a killer, Tenten." He spoke with such certainty that she visibly shied away from him. "And…I don't think I'm one either. I don't know anymore…but, please, I'm asking you to quit with me."

"I—this is who I _am _Neji. Call me a killer." She stopped to swallow the lump in her throat. "Or call me anything else you want. But this," she held up the kunai in her hand. "This is the only thing I have left now."

"That's not true, Tenten. You _know _it's not true." There was so much emotion in his voice, so much _passion, _that she found herself believing his words. "Please, let's quit ANBU."

She could feel her resolve weakening, slipping away like water between her fingers, and she didn't know why. Maybe it was because of the way he held her, or the way he spoke. Or maybe it was just because of the fact that she had never been able to say no to him, that she cared for _his_ happiness and _his_ dreams so much more than she could ever care for her own.

She looked at him, and he was looking back at her, just as he always had been. She let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob, and then nodded, slowly, heavily, and suddenly, she felt lighter than she had for months.

And when he kissed her, everything seemed to fall right back into place, and her world was lovely and pure and perfect.

The kunai she had been holding onto so tightly clattered onto the ground, along with every single doubt and uncertainty in her mind.

_Thank you, Neji._

**A/N: **Well, that's all for now folks. I hope you liked it at least a little. Please leave a review. It makes me very very happy:D


	6. Running

**A/N:** Hey guys. I'm finally back. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter, and I hope you enjoy this one. It's a continuation of chapter 3, so if you're confused, you should read that one first.

**Running**

Tenten looks…different from five years ago. Older…and so much sadder. I want to say that after all these years, nothing has changed. I'd like to say that I can still see her—_understand _her like I did so long ago.

But I can't. I feel like I don't even _know _her anymore.

The fact that she had called Lee, and not me hurt me more than I'd like to admit. Five years ago, she would have called me first, and we would have trained and talked like we used to. Back then, we knew each other better than we knew ourselves. And now…now everything is different.

I can feel something inside of me twisting at the thought. I don't know exactly why, but I think it's because there's something about losing Tenten that makes me more scared and lost than anything else. Life just seems so…empty without her.

If it had been up to me, she would have stayed by my side forever, but she didn't. In the end, I suppose that I was still just a caged bird, and she was afraid she would be grounded along with me for the rest of her life.

'_I _need_ to go, Neji. I have to get away. I can't stay.' _I can still remember the exact way she said it, soft and desperate, the words tumbling out and bleeding into one another. It was dark on the night she left, and I couldn't see her face. Or maybe I just didn't want to.

And when she started to walk away, I didn't do anything to stop her. What _could_ I do? She could make decisions for herself, and if she wanted to leave Konoha (if she wanted to leave _me_) then she could very well do so. After all, she was a grown woman, and I was just the teammate who cared a little bit too much.

I told myself that I was being too paranoid. I told myself that she would be back soon, that this whole 'leaving' business was just a phase she was going through. And I let her go. She wasn't caged like me. She never could be.

I'm beginning to doubt my decision now. Maybe I should have made her stay. If not for me, then for her. I could have protected her from whatever had happened to make her this sad. Tenten didn't deserve to be this sad.

I glanced at her, and almost jumped when I found that she was staring at me with a strange look in her eyes that I've never seen before. I was just about to wave a hand in front of her face when she suddenly jerked away from me as if she'd been slapped.

"Tenten, what's wrong?" My voice sounds concerned, worried, and desperate all at once. I don't like it, and I don't like the way she's making me feel.

"Nothing's wrong." She let out a strained laugh, and I knew she was lying. "I just zoned out again. Heh, silly me." She smiled that same pathetic half-smile she had been throwing at me for the past five minutes, and I felt my gut wrench at the flash of pain in her eyes.

"Um, well, I'd better get going. Lots to do today. Bye, Neji." Before the last words were even out of her mouth, she was already turning away, that same damn smile on her face.

My breath caught in my throat as I noticed the tears in her eyes.

"Wait—Tenten!" I don't know why I want her to stay. I guess, even after five years of separation, I was still much too attached to her for my own good. And I couldn't help but feel like she was running away from me again.

She stopped a couple of steps away, as if frozen by my words.

I don't know what I want to say to her. All I know is that I don't want her to leave again. Luckily, she spoke first, her clear voice rising above all of the noise around us. "Congratulations on your wedding, Neji."

I can feel myself reel backwards at her words. She knew. Oh god, she knew. It was the reason why she was acting like this, the reason why she was crying. _I _had made her cry. But…why would she cry over _me _of all people? We were never anything more than friends (but we were…we were). And I feel as if I've betrayed her in a horrible, unspeakable way that can never be fixed. I want to say so many things to her, but nothing seems to work. All I can do is stand here.

The tense set of her shoulders, the way she fought to control her breathing; she tried so hard to hide it from me, but she couldn't. It turns out that maybe, I can still see her after all.

And then, she turns around to face me. My heart almost stops at the way she's looking at me. She looks happy; truly, sincerely happy.

For a moment, I was shocked. For a moment, I actually believed her. But then I saw a tear roll down her cheek, and I remembered what a good actor she was, and everything was suddenly so _real_. I was engaged to a woman that I didn't love, and Tenten was standing here in front of me, crying and smiling at the same time.

And then, all I saw was her back. She was running again. Running from _me._ Just as she had run from me five years ago.

**A/N:** I liked the idea of this one, but it didn't come out how I wanted it to. Feel free to flame me or leave any kind of criticism. It's very welcomed! Thanks for reading!


	7. Sky

**A/N:** Hello everyone. Sorry for the long wait, but here's the next piece. Enjoy!

**Sky**

"Tell me the Hyuuga secrets, girl. And I might just convince the boss to let you live."

Even with his rough hand digging painfully into her throat, she still managed to make her voice sound somewhat defiant. "Neji will come for me. And when he does, he'll kill you."

The guard let out a low, dry chuckle. "All of Konoha would never be able to defeat our Orochimaru-sama, least of all your precious _Neji_." He spat out the name like a curse, and she felt a powerful surge of anger course though her. "Now _tell _me what I want to hear." He slammed her against the wall, and she felt something inside of her break.

She shut her eyes tight against the pain. Oh god, she couldn't breathe. She couldn't _breathe._

No, she couldn't die like this. Not now. Not in this dark, damp place. Not by the hand of this good-for-nothing coward. She could feel tears well up in her eyes at the unfairness of it all, and at the same time, she could feel herself fading away. So this was what death was like… At least…at least she had lasted for this long. And Neji—he would be safe…

"Release her." A voice. A strong, deep voice. Neji's voice, she realized as the guard's massive hand suddenly let go of her. She crumpled to the hard stone floor like a forgotten doll. Oh, it was so _cold_ all of a sudden. But at least now she could breathe.

It seemed as if she had been sitting there for hours before he came to her, her angel in the dark. She didn't have any willpower left to keep all of her tears inside when she saw his eyes before her. He had come…he really hadn't left her, abandoned her like Orochimaru said he had.

She looked up at him, into his white, endless eyes and marveled over the sight of him, the first beautiful thing she had seen in over a week.

"I'm here," he whispered softly, and his voice was like a fresh breeze on a sunny, cloudless day.

She smiled at him, pretended not to notice when he took her bloody, dirty hands in his. "I knew you'd come. I knew…" She leaned into him tiredly. He didn't say a thing, only welcomed her with open arms.

"You've been here for nine days," he whispered into her hair. "I'm—I'm sorry I didn't come sooner." He could feel wetness in his hands and knew it was her blood.

"It's…alright." Her voice was soft, fragile, even to her own ears. He looked at her, taking in the pale, sunken cheeks, and the way that she just barely seemed to be holding on. "I just wish, I could be outside." Her hand moved against his, as if echoing that same desire.

And then he remembered how Tenten hated dark, enclosed spaces, and how she loved everything that had to do with sun and trees and birds and sky.

"I'm so sorry," he breathed out, something tightening painfully in his chest. Still, he managed a small smile, just for her. "You must have missed seeing the sky."

"Yeah…" she murmured, feeling herself finally slipping into unconsciousness.

_But not as much as I missed you..._


	8. Gamble

**A/N:** Thank you to those who reviewed. I hope you guys enjoy this one. It's a bit different than what I'm used to writing, but I tried.

**Gamble**

"You must realize how risky this is, Neji," Hiashi said, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Yes, Hiashi-sama," he replied, his voice just as hard and determined as his uncle's.

"She is kunoichi, and not of noble-blood. In fact, she is an orphan without money, standing, or even a last name. The elders will not approve." Hiashi listed off the facts brutally, and the way he spoke of Tenten made Neji's jaw harden in anger.

"Tenten is a more than capable kunoichi, Hiashi-sama. And, yes, she is an orphan without even half the things that the clan possesses or desires, but I don't care. She's better than us in so many other ways. I thought you would be able to see it, but I suppose that I overestimated your abilities."

Hiashi's eyes narrowed at the disrespect his nephew was showing him. "Do not use that tone with me. You will not marry her, and that is final."

At Neji's defiant stare, something inside of Hiashi softened, remembering a time when he himself was young and reckless and in love. "I'm sorry, Neji," (and he truly was), "but as the future clan head, you will have to make sacrifices…"

"I won't give her up," Neji told him, a fire blazing in his eyes that Hiashi had never seen before. And he knew then, what the outcome of their conversation would be.

And when he said what he knew he had to say, it was with regret. "Choose now, Neji. It's her, or the clan."

There was a moment of silence, hesitation. And then the decision was made.

"I suppose you'll have to find another heir then, Hiashi-sama. Because I won't let her go."

Hiashi sighed and looked at his stubborn nephew. "As your clan head," he said slowly, "I would have to say that you are making a big and careless mistake. Your life with her will be uncertain, but with us—with the clan—your whole future would have been laid out for you and it would have been safe and successful." He looked up at the young man standing across from him, and saw in him everything that he was not.

"As your uncle, I'd say that, I'm very proud of you. Your father would be too, I'm certain. You—" for once, Hyuuga Hiashi stumbled over his words, "I think that you have made the right decision, and I wish you two happiness."

They just stared at each other for a few moments, a boy and his father's brother, beginning to understand one another just a little more.

"Thank you, Hiashi-sama." And for the first time in his life, Neji truly meant it.

**A/N: **Not too sure how I feel about this one. I just decided it couldn't hurt to post it. Please leave a review! It would be much appreciated!


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